10 Reasons Why Outsourcing Your Podcast Editing is a Game-Changer
The podcasting industry is continually and consistently growing, with the current market size clocking in at over $20 billion. Celebrities, individuals, and brands are all finding that a podcast is a fantastic way to build authority in a niche and connect on a very personal level with their audience. While it’s certainly possible to find podcast success using a DIY approach, many are realizing that outsourcing certain aspects of their podcasting journey can be a game-changer.
One such aspect is podcast editing. In this blog contributed by our own podcast editor for the Strategy Hour Podcast, We Edit Podcasts, we'll explore 10 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your podcast editing.
1. Stay Focused on What You Do Best
As a podcaster, your most important task will always be consistently delivering high-quality valuable content, followed by engaging with your audience. However, there are all sorts of moving parts that work together to create a successful podcast. Yes, there’s the content creation and recording, but there’s also the marketing, episode promotion, community building, and audience engagement, not to mention the editing!
Handling the often intricate and focus-heavy task of editing can be time-consuming and, let’s be honest, frustrating. Outsourcing podcast editing allows you to offload that frustration and focus on what you do best – creating amazing content that captivates your audience.
2. Professional Quality Without the Learning Curve
As much as it’s true that “anyone can start a podcast,” high-quality podcast editing is still a specialized skill. And while it’s also true that there are a number of free editing software available for all to use, and plenty of tutorials online to help you master the art of audio editing, it is still an art. This means there will be a significant learning curve in order to master it.
Professional podcast editors have the knowledge, the tools, and, of course, the experience to expertly edit your raw recordings. They have the know-how to eliminate background noise, adjust those levels, remove fillers and awkward silences, and even add music and sound effects to create an immersive and engaging listener experience.
NOTE: Your overall audio quality will always depend on a quality raw recording. No editor, no matter how skilled, can save bad audio. Ensure that you’re capturing quality raw recordings by using quality equipment, and recording in a sound-conducive environment.
We’ve linked some of our favorite podcast equipment to this Amazon list.
3. Make Consistency Easy
Consistency in every area is key when it comes to podcasting success. Outsourcing editing ensures that every episode maintains the same high standard, from audio quality to the style of editing, while ensuring the consistent high-quality of your content. Remember, it is this consistency that will help build trust and loyalty with your audience. Podcast editing is what a podcast editor does day in and day out, and their dedication to consistency is built into their output.
4. Save Hours of Time & Energy
If you’ve been editing your own podcast for any length of time, you’ll know that podcast editing is a time-consuming endeavor. There’s no way around this! Or is there…
By choosing to outsource your podcast editing, you can free up plenty of hours that you can then invest in your content creation, your podcast marketing, engaging with your audience, or simply using that time for any of your other tasks. Besides the hours you’ll save outsourcing your editing, you’ll also save your energy levels, as this is one less task that requires your energy output.
5. Faster Turnaround Time
Not only can outsourcing your podcast editing save you tons of hours, you will also likely get your episodes edited faster than doing it yourself! Professional podcast editors are always in the “editing zone.” This is what they do and they’re consistently honing their skills in this area.
When your podcast is your side-hustle, and you’re already juggling so many other responsibilities, it’s easy to keep bumping your podcast further and further down the list. It becomes a “when there’s time” project, rather than your top priority. When you outsource, however, your podcast becomes a prioritized item on someone else’s list. We Edit Podcasts, our trusted editor for The Strategy Hour Podcast, boasts some of the fastest turnaround times in the industry.
Once you’ve handed over your content, your completed episode will be ready in 48 hours– seriously!
6. Reduce Marketing Stress
Here’s another winning reason to outsource your podcast editing…to reduce those stress levels! We’ve already shared that podcasting, with its parts and processes, takes a lot of consistent time, effort, and energy, and this can become overwhelming. There’s a reason why statistically, many podcasts don’t make it past Episode 3! Urban Dictionary even has a term for this…Podfade! And why does podfade happen? Because the stress of consistently creating high-quality, valuable content, editing said content to craft engaging episodes, promoting your episodes, marketing your podcast, engaging with an audience, and building a community around your show becomes greater than all the benefits of keeping your show going.
But when you delegate the time-consuming task of editing to professionals, you free up your schedule and your energy to focus on the aspects of podcasting you enjoy the most. This not only reduces stress but also allows you to channel your energy into creating top-quality content and connecting with your audience.
7. Access the Expertise
Outsourcing your podcast editing also grants you access to the expertise of the professional editors. Experienced podcast editors are in-the-know when it comes to industry trends, best practices, what works… and what doesn’t! Remember, podcast editing and production is what they do every day! When you outsource your editing, your podcast becomes the beneficiary of all that expertise– voila!
8. Bonus: Professional Libraries
Another reason to choose a professional podcast editor is because they have access to libraries the DIY podcaster often doesn’t. Yes, there are plenty of sites that offer royalty-free music, but there is often some sort of premium involved to get access to the full library. Something that you might not feasibly be able to pay just for your podcast. Most professional podcast editing companies factor in this cost across all their clients. They pay those premiums so that they can offer their clients access to music and sound effects for their podcasts without any copyright risk. They pay the price, so that you don’t have to, and your podcast benefits.
9. Boost Cost-Efficiency
Yes! It’s true! Outsourcing your podcast editing can boost cost efficiency. While it may seem counterintuitive, in the long-run, choosing to outsource your podcast editing can actually save you money. How?
When you consider what it would actually cost you to produce the same high-quality episodes, factoring in their heavy-duty editing software, the above-mentioned music and sound effect libraries, as well as the time spent editing, the calculations typically show that outsourcing your podcast editing often proves to be a cost-effective alternative.
10. Opportunity to Scale
And finally, outsourcing your podcast editing can help you position your show for greater growth. We’re all after creating a show that grows from strength to strength, but as your podcast grows, so will the workload. Outsourcing your podcast editing will help you create the space to scale up without increasing your own workload. Without the time-consumption of podcast editing on your schedule, you also position yourself to say “yes” to more opportunities that come your way.
Opportunities that you may not even have looked for or considered had you still been wearing your Editor’s hat.
The Team We Trust
Podcasting is often a labor of love. But you don’t have to be the one putting in all the work! Outsourcing your podcast editing is a strategic move that can help you consistently and efficiently deliver high-quality episodes without the stress of dealing with podcast editing tech. You’ll be able to not only focus on what you do best but also have more time and brain space to create valuable content that will set your podcast out from the crowd.
For our own podcast, The Strategy Hour, we rely on the We Edit Podcasts team for our podcast editing and production. Learn more about this fantastic team and all the services they offer here!
Other Resources to Make Your Podcast Pop
If you already have a podcast, we hope you’re promoting it on all your social channels, to your email list, and spreading the word! One way we like to share about new episodes of The Strategy Hour Podcast is to use Pinterest pins and we’ve got professional templates for just that right here to help you out!
